Designer Guys revamp Rogers Centre suite
HGTV’s The Designer Guys did their magic, revamping a luxury box at the Rogers Centre. The results will be aired on Tuesday, April 18 at 8:30 p.m. The new suite features an Astroturf-top bar and a custom-made baseball glove chair. The placement deal was done in-house. This is the second time that the net has partnered with the media giant. Last fall, the team from Design Inc. reworked yet another suite at the Centre in an episode that has since aired. In yet another (unrelated) tie-in, Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes threw the first pitch at last night’s Blue Jays game.
Animal Planet series to harness Horse Power
Horse Power: Road to Maclay makes its debut on Animal Planet on Tuesday, May 2 at 8 p.m. The hour-long six-parter chronicles the drama within the horse show circuit. Each ep follows teens as they compete for the Maclay Medal Finals.
New GM named for PHDiQ
PHDiQ, the interactive arm of PHD Canada, has named a new GM in Beat Richert. Richert boasts 15 years of international and domestic expertise. His previous positions include director of media at both Leo Burnett in Zurich and at Cossette in Montreal.
Updegrove joins Yahoo! Canada
Mark Updegrove is the new director of sales at Yahoo! Canada. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Updegrove held a sales leadership position at Viacom in New York. He was also the publisher of Newsweek.
PMB Factoid
Use of headache relief medication; by household income
On the MIC with Maurice Lévy, chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe SA, Paris
Maurice Lévy is recognized internationally as an innovator and visionary, and under his stewardship Publicis Groupe become the fourth largest communications group and the second largest media group in the world. International expansion has been active over the past 10 years, including a move into Canada with the purchase of 70% of Montreal-based BCP in 1996 and Toronto-based SMW the following year. Lévy joined Publicis in 1971, and since taking the CEO remit in ’84 has been busy acquiring a full range of marketing services and specialized communications companies. Publicis Groupe now owns ad agency networks Leo Burnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, Fallon Worldwide and 49% of Bartle Bogle Hegarty as well as media orgs ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group. MIC took the opportunity to get some of Lévy’s thoughts on the agency business when he was in Toronto last week as keynote speaker at the annual Canadian Media Directors’ Council conference.
SBC Media to release new print properties aimed at women, youth
Toronto-based SBC Media Group has announced the upcoming release of new action sports lifestyle print properties targeted to women and youth. A glossy annual entitled SBC Ski & Snowboard Resort Guide is slated for launch in October 2006 and according to SBC group publisher Steve Jarrett, the company is projecting a 60,000 copy distribution via newsstands across Canada in addition to Snowboard Canada and SBC Skier‘s retail network. The annual will target 25-55s. Also on offer from SBC is the introduction of a women’s title in Snowboard Canada Women’s. Jarrett says SBC decided to go with a annual women’s mag because ‘readership [of Snowboard Canada] among women increased by 12% between 2003 and 2004. [And] according to the Canadian Ski Council, participation in snowboarding is now at 46%.’ The mag, which will focus on snowboarding from a women’s perspective, has a projected distribution of up to 70,000. The decision to go annual, says Jarrett, is to extend the title’s newsstand shelf life. Snowboard Canada Women’s will target 16-29s.
Much awaited in Canada will be the launch of a new surf title. The yet-to-be-named mag will launch in spring 2007 as a bi-annual, featuring paid newsstand and specialty surf, skateboard, wakeboard, snowboard and ski shop distribution. Jarrett says the company has received ‘enthusiastic response from surf lifestyle leaders [such as] Billabong, Oakley and Reef. [Its] editorial mandate is authentic, credible coverage of the growing Canadian surf scene from Vancouver to Nova Scotia and the Great Lakes.’ The surf mag will go after the 16-39 set, skewing male. All SBC titles will carry a full-page ad rate of $5450. And perhaps closer to launch, the company’s music fest Wakestock comes back to Toronto’s Centre Island in mid-August. Jarrett says sponsorship and sampling opportunities are still available. Last year, Wakestock boasted 32,000 participants over four days.
Teletoon promos promise fashion design, gold bars and radar guns
Teletoon’s sales promotion department has been busy, crafting promos that give away Vespas, gold bars and radar guns. Emma Fachini, manager of sales promotions at the net says, ‘what we’re finding now is that advertisers are really looking at branded entertainment as an innovative way to deliver their message.’ This month Toronto-based International Academy of Design & Technology is involved in a Teletoon promo called ‘Tailor-Made Tweety Design Challenge’. Canary clothing designs are found on the Teletoon site where young, wannabe Jeanne Beckers can vote on their fave, and earn a chance to win a custom-made Tweety-inspired Vespa. Fachini says it’s a good way to integrate a property with such wide appeal, ‘and this is a fun and interesting way to get involved with Tweety.’
Meanwhile, the net’s online stats attracted Mindshare for a month-long Kelloggs Froot Loops Treasure Island contest. The promo offers chances to win gold bars via an online treasure hunt. The net says it is averaging 1.5 million hits per month on teletoon.com (700,000 unique visits), and boasts fifth place of the top sites of the Entertainment Kids category, behind Disney, Mattel, Neopets and Meegos [according to Comscore ]. On April 10, young French viewers will get a chance to win the new Mattel Hot Wheels Radar Gun (a toy that can measure the speed of their toy cars) in yet another promo put together by Mindshare.
Dove launches cool national promo campaign
Readers of free commuter daily, Metro are in for some cool reading tomorrow. The entire April 5 issue (in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa) will be printed on a cool green-coloured paperstock to herald the launch of Dove’s new Cool Moisture Bodywash product line. A sample will also be affixed to the cover in addition to a double-page pop-up. Toronto-area commuters traveling through the Union and Eglinton subway stations this week will also get the cool treatment via a traveling photo exhibit entitled the Dove Cool Moisture Art Gallery. The OOH creative, developed by ad shop Ogilvy & Mather, will feature portraits of women with the products set within an art gallery-style exhibit. The exhibit will also be shown at the La Gauchetiere Building tunnel in Montreal and the Pacific Centre corridor in Vancouver throughout the month of April. Other elements include print and online buys, as well as a TV viewing contest on Global. The Dove Cool Moisture launch was a collaborative effort by ad shops, O&M, Capital C Communications and media shop PHD Canada.
Food category tops for Desperate Housewives viewers – Eloda analysis for March 24-30, 2006
In addition to its regular ad analysis, Montreal-based Eloda conducted a city versus city comparison of ads running during an ep of Desperate Housewives. In a market-to-market comparison (Toronto versus Montreal) of the show that aired Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m., food ranked as the top advertising category at 21% in Toronto and 18% in Montreal. The French must love shopping as much as food as the retail category there also tied for top spot during the broadcast at 18%. Second and third in Toronto were automotive and financial services/insurance, both at 14% apiece. Meanwhile Montreal also saw the financial category at number two with 14%. Check out others topping the charts, and which brands had the most new spots. This info was gathered through Montreal-based ELODA’s online TV ad tracking, auditing and viewing services. All data supplied is based on the ELODA recording grid.
http://www.eloda.com
Global seeks sponsors for Gemini Awards
Global will be broadcasting the 21st Annual Gemini Awards on Saturday, Nov. 4 and there’s lots of lead time for advertisers to get in on the act. Barbara Williams, SVP programming and production for CanWest MediaWorks, says the net will be as open as possible to incorporating advertisers into the show while respecting the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s needs and the fact that the Geminis honour programs from all networks. Global is expecting 25-54s to be the main aud, although the net’s usual target is 18-49s.
This year the show will be held in Vancouver – the first time it’s been outside Toronto. Global’s coverage includes parties and features during the week leading up to the show as well as a Red Carpet Pre-Show and Backstage Awards Buzz from The ET Canada Gemini Lounge on awards night.
BBC Kids goes after teens with new programming block and ad campaign
BBC Kids (BBCK) is hitting the streets of Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver in a bid to net 15-17 year-old viewers for its new teen program block. The block, called Rated K, made its debut last night at 9 p.m. As part of the launch promo, the net will embark on the BBCK Basement Tour, a traveling viewing theatre exhibit launching May 7, that recreates the look and feel of the classic, tacky basement – complete with patterned wallpaper and wood paneling. The basements will be set up in random spots such as movie theatres, parking lots and street corners, with street teams inviting folks to take a seat to watch some BBCK. April 1 saw wild postings and stickers in key markets drawing people to the just-made-live bbck.ca site. A mid-March execution also put the ‘tease’ in teaser campaign. ‘Bear Naked,’ a vignette of a stripteasing bear found at bbck.ca enthralled subway riders and invited teens to send the clip to pals. Other elements include: print ads in Fashion 18, Access and What Magazine plus email blasts to subscribers of Fashion 18, Vervegirl, Fuel and the Student Price Card. The net worked closely with Toronto-based youth consultancy shop, Youthography. Media buys were done in-house.
Vancouver daily readership up and The Province leads the pack: NADbank
Toronto-based NADbank has unveiled its Fall 2005 Study for Vancouver. The three free dailies launched in this market late last spring: Metro, 24 hours and DOSE, were taken into account in this study and have enlivened the Vancouver newspaper scene. Overall daily newspaper readership increased in the market last fall with 57% of adults 18+ reading a daily paper on an average weekday, compared to the 48% reported in NADbank’s 2004 full-year study. As well, 80% read a daily over the past week as compared to 74% for 2004.
The Province topped the read-yesterday group with 28%, narrowly edging out The Vancouver Sun which scored 27%. The free daily 24 hours fell next with 9% while Metro was 6% and DOSE only 2%. The Globe and Mail beat out The National Post at 7% to 5%. The 6/7 day cume showed The Province and The Sun tied at 49% and The Globe topping The Post at 18% to 12%. All data is provided by NADbank, the principal research arm of the Canadian daily newspapers industry. NADbank is comprised of dailies, ad agencies, media companies and advertisers.
Cheeky creative targets media buyers for ABC Canada
The long-running big versus small agency debate takes a humorous turn in a new fundraising campaign that targets media buyers for ABC Canada Literacy Foundation. Voicemail messages, online, print, and washroom ads pit the big agency Fat Cats against the smaller Media Minnows for the Gutenberg Media Grab (abcmediagrab.ca). The annual event offers up $750,000 donated print and OOH media at 65% off rate card, with different media lots sold each day from April 24 to 28.
The voicemail messages are tailored to big and small agencies. Execs at smaller shops hear from a fictitious SVP from ‘Glomcorp Global Media’ in a snooty British accent: ‘It’s not that we need the discounts here at Glomcorp, not with our obscenely large, free-spending stable of clients. However, I’d never miss the chance to take an opportunity away from a small fry.’ Big shops get a once-rebuffed job applicant from a smaller agency, boasting of the 65%-off media that ‘we’re going to get it first and leave your fake-tanned butt in the dust… This time it’s a level playing field, my friend, and you’re about to lose big time.’
The theme continues in trade pubs, online banners, DM postcards, and Zoom ads in agency washrooms: ‘Prove once and for all that the bigger they are, the harder they fall,’ and ‘It’s time to show the little guys why they’ll always be the little guys.’ The campaign was created by Toronto agency ACLC.
